At the end of my tether with joypads

BoxFrenzy

I've clawed my hair out and I'm about to start on my eyeballs, so any help will be much appreciated.

I've got a Raspberry Pi 3 running Retropie 4.3, just updated it this evening.
It came with two wireless PS3 Dual Shock controllers, which worked fine with 4.1 but stopped with 4.2 for no obvious reason, except about one time in 30 when they'd miraculously be detected.
On 4.3 it's even worse. Neither gets detected by the Pi no matter what I do. They just sit there flashing all four red lights dumbly until they give up.
If I try to redetect them in Register And Connect Bluetooth devices, nothing happens. It just says "Searching" until I pull the plug.
If I connect them to the Pi with the USB cable, they go crazy, permanently vibrating and flashing. If I press the Start or Select buttons, the screen breaks out of searching and prints codes - [[B and [[D - at the bottom of the screen. No other buttons produce codes.
I also have an 8bitdo N30 Pro controller. If I try to detect it via Bluetooth it also blanks - it flashes all the colours of the rainbow, but with no useful result.
If I connect the N30 Pro via the USB it still doesn't pair, but almost EVERY button produces a code at the bottom of the screen - this time I get [[A and [[C as well as B and D. So on SOME level the Pi knows it's there.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to make this idiot device connect to a controller? (Which doesn't involve the completely incomprehensible xboxdrv.)

chipsnblip

...

BoxFrenzy

They're DualShocks, they don't take batteries. And that's the step I've already tried, as I said.

lostless

@boxfrenzy said in At the end of my tether with joypads:

If I connect them to the Pi with the USB cable, they go crazy, permanently vibrating and flashing.

Sounds like they are 3rd party Chinese knockoff ps3 controllers. I have one and it does just that with usb plugged in. No Bluetooth connection. I have never gotten them to work

chmcke01

Did you go into Manage Packages and Driver packages and install the PS3 driver package?

BoxFrenzy

@lostless Like I say, these worked perfectly until RetroPie 4.2. I tried my legit PS3 controller but that didn't work either.

lostless

Something may have changed in Raspian. I've only tried it on 4.2 and never had the knock off work. As for the legit ps3 you have to plug it in via USB before sync and If the ps3 driver was set for the Chinese knockoff,. It won't work.

Darksavior

Woops, nevermind. Works here. My edit to delete the disabled bluetooth command I put into config.txt wasn't saving.

I'm using an official ps3 controller. Works wired and wirelessly in 4.3. Maybe try a fresh install of 4.3 or reinstall the ps3 controller driver and try the different clone configurations it has.

Please read the official docs and you would have noticed to NOT go to the bluetooth setup menu for ps3. If you setup your pi for ps3 pads, bt won't work for 8bitdo or anything else besides the ps3 pads . https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/PS3-Controller

I had no issues with my 8bitdo sfc30 (without the ps3 driver installed), but you don't mention you read the docs for that either, so please do so. https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/8Bitdo-Controller

I'm guessing it might be user error and/or junk ps3 pads.

lostless

@darksavior Or you can just not use the ps3 driver and use raspians built in one. then you can use other BT controllers with ps3 ones. Only difference is the built in one doesn't auto turn off the controller and the controller does not vibrate. The only odd thing is that the bluetooth menu gives an error when trying to sync but works fine.

Darksavior

@lostless That's interesting. Thanks. I don't look into much beyond what retropie has. I wonder why that option hasn't been available for retropie? I might consider that on my other pi that I use my sfc30 pad and would like to use the ps3 pad as well.

lostless

@darksavior you still can do it, just uninstall the ps3 driver. Reinstall if you dont like it. Its not that hard. I don't think you have to resync the ps3 controller because it already connects to the bluetooth address.. Just a different driver takes over. I think its not mentioned because it does give an error that it can't connect and may confuse people, but it does for some reason. also you have to remember to turn off your controllers manually, by holding down the ps button until the lights turn off, if you never turn off your pi.

edmaul69

@darksavior you can use the bluetooth controllers and the ps3 driver at the same time. Uninstall the ps3 driver, add all the bluetooth devices you want. Then reinstall the ps3 driver. All devices work. If you want to add more bt devices, remove the ps3 driver again, add more devices, then reinstall the ps3 driver. I have been using all my bluetooth and ps3 driver together for a couple years now with no issues at all. Including my 8-bitdo fc30 pro.